Alabama freshman Mikey White singled up the middle against a drawn-in infield to deliver two runs in the top of the 10th.

It wasn’t a great offensive game for Ole Miss against Alabama’s ace, but two runs at the stage of a game is a pretty daunting deficit under any circumstances.

The Rebels got off some good early swings against Spencer Turnbull, who played high school ball at Madison Central, but couldn’t get him out of the game early.

Here’s Stuart Turner talking about the Rebels’ struggles against Turnbull. Freshman right-hander Jacob Waguespack talks about his start as well, which wasn’t that bad. More on that in a bit.

After the Rebels scored three against Turnbull early — one of them unearned — Turnbull settled down to throw four scoreless innings. It was clear that Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard was going to squeeze all he could out of Turnbull, who stayed in the game until he issued three-straight two-out walks in the seventh. Turnbull threw 104 pitches.

Ole Miss tied the game at 5 on a basehit to left field by Turner, driving in two of those walks, but the Rebels could not get a second two-out hit against Alabama reliever Mitch Greer to take the lead then, nor could they take the lead in the eighth. Ole Miss had two on and one out for Will Allen, who was pinch-hitting, when Allen lined hard to third baseman Kenny Roberts who made the catch then threw to first to double up Turner.

All in all, not a bad day for Waguespack. He went 3.2 innings, a career high as he continues to gain strength. He didn’t see game action until April against Mississippi State in the Governor’s Cup game. Waguespack threw three-straight hitless, scoreless innings but was clearly getting tired in the fourth.

Here’s Mike Bianco talking about Waguespack:

Behind Waguespack, Scott Weathersby was hit hard, giving u pfour hits and three runs — two earned — over 1.1 innings. The rest of the bullpen I thought was pretty good. Tanner Bailey was obviously getting winded in the 10th. He has pitched more than two innings before, but most of his appearances are fewer, and this was his second time to pitch in the tournament. He went 2.1 innings iwth one hit, two runs, both earned, and two walks.

One pitch cost Huber against White, who made an adjustment after Huber made him look bad when he swung and missed at two sliders. White said he was more patient the third time — expecting a fastball actually — and was able to get a good swing on a slider that Huber left up in the zone.

So Ole Miss is done here and will wait until Monday’s selection show to learn its NCAA destination.

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Lineups

Alabama (33-25)

3B Kenny Roberts R .251

CF Georgia Salem L .272

2B Kyle Overstreet R .279

RF Ben Moore R .289

SS Mikey White R .278

1B Austen Smith R .277

C Brett Booth R .283

LF Andrew Miller L .237

DH Chance Vincent R .214

RHP Spencer Turnbull 4-3, 3.61

Ole Miss (37-21)

LF Mathis .273

SS Anderson .305

C Turner .379

3B Mistone .319

CF Bousfield .267

DH Orvis .236

1B Overbey .280

2B Helsel .209

RF Jamison .278

RHP Waguespack 0-1, 2.89, 9.1 IP

Not much offense in this game, which held true to form for both teams.

Both teams scored in the first inning, and it was zeros the rest of the way until Arkansas scored in the bottom of the 10th.

The difference is Ole Miss was sending its No. 3 starter against Arkansas’ regular Friday night guy, and Sam Smith responded by tying a career-high with six innings pitched. He said he was feeling a little winded at the end, but Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said not sending Smith out for the seventh was a decision made with the upcoming regional in mind.

Smith and Tanner Mathis talk about the game here:

Smith scattered six hits, walked one and struck out four. Good pitching didn’t only come from Smith.

Aaron Greenwood turned in another good outing. He had struggled of late but was able to record some outs at LSU last week going 4.2 innings. He went 3.1 innings today, and Arkansas’ winning run that was charged to him came on a wild pitch delivered by freshman lefty Matt Denny. Greenwood gave up five hits. They weren’t all rockets. He walked one and struck out four.

Here’s Mike Bianco talking about his pitching:

Just six hits in the game for Ole Miss, five of them against Arkansas starter Barrett Astin, who also tied a career-high with eight innings pitched.

Austin Anderson had two hits, turning on fastballs twice and pulling them sharply into right field.

Arkansas had 11 hits, three of them from center fielder Matt Vinson.

Ole Miss is now 37-21 and will play tomorrow morning at 9:30 against the loser of the LSU-Alabama game. LSU at this moment leads 1-0 in the bottom of the first and has two runners on base with one out.

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Lineups

Ole Miss (37-20)

LF Mathis .273

3B Mistone  .320

SS Anderson .301

C Turner .379

CF Bousfield .271

1B Orvis .241

2B Overbey .283

RF Jamison .279

DH Allen .237

RHP Sam Smith 3-0, 3.28

Arkansas

DH Joe Serrano R .280

CF Matt Vinson S .287

LF Brian Anderson R .349

1B Dominic Ficociello S .254

RF Tyler Spoon R .280

3B Jacob Mahan L .291

2B Jordan Farris R .237

SS Brett McAfee R .269

C Jean Ramierz R .188

RHP Barrett Astin 4-4, 2.02

Ole Miss will start sophomore right-hander Sam Smith tomorrow against Arkansas we’ve just learned.

Smith is 3-0 with a 3.28 ERA. He was bothered a little by a blister in his start at LSU last week. He’s held down the No. 3 starter spot since Chris Ellis went out with the abdominal injury before SEC play ever started.

Smith pitched well against the Razorbacks in Fayetteville, going 5.0 innings with just three hits and one run allowed.

Pitching was the big story — on both ends.

Mike Mayers, going on five days rest, threw 100 pitches over 6.1 innings and did not allow an earned run. The Wildcats’ only run in the game came on an apparent miscommunication between shortstop Austin Anderson and second baseman Christian Helsel on a two-out stolen base attempt. Stuart Turner’s throw was on target but ended up in center field, and Kentucky’s Zac Zellers scored from third.

Mayers scattered six hits, walked one and struck out four.

The Rebels’ bullpen, which twice blew one-run leads late in the games Kentucky won in Oxford, gave up two hits, one walk and no runs over the final 2.2 innings.

Soft-throwing lefty Jeremy Massie made some news. He relieved Mayers with one out in the seventh, runners first and second. The first batter he faced reached on a swinging bunt that Massie fielded on the grass on the third base side but had no play. With the bases loaded Massie got a pop-up and a ground ball to get out of the inning.

Massie said he was a little nervous going in. Not surprising really. His appearances have been very spread out, and his last one, against Mississippi State, wasn’t that good. However, his three innings over two appearances against Kentucky in late April were hitless and scoreless. That may have played into the decision to use Massie.

It’s also worth noting that Massie had no appearances between Kentucky Game 3 on April 27 and the first MSU game on May 11. Massie officially registered only 1-3 of an inning against MSU and in two appearances allowed four hits and three earned runs.

Ole Miss postgame reaction here:

Kentucky players talk here about Mike Mayers and about their inability to get the big hit.

Offense for Ole Miss was enough but nothing dynamic. The Rebels got nine hits against UK lefty Jerad Grundy but didn’t get him out of the game early. It was a 2-1 game and looking like the bullpen might have to protect another one-run lead until the Rebels pushed across two in the sixth. Anderson and Turner each had two hits. Preston Overbey, Helsel and Anderson had doubles.

The Rebels will take on No. 3 seed Arkansas tomorrow morning at 9:30. It’s double elimination now for Ole Miss.

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We’re about 40 minutes out. Teams are warming up, Ole Miss in white on uniforms, Kentucky blue on gray.

Lineups

Kentucky

RF Kyle Barrett L .352

LF Zac Zellers R .239

1B AJ Ree L .281

CF Austin Cousino L .251

2B J.T. Riddle L .284

3B Max Kuhn R .247

SS Matt Reida L .236

DH Paul McConkey L .237

C Micheal Thomas R .246

LHP Jerad Grundy 6-5, 4.75

Ole Miss

LF Mathis .272

SS Anderson .296

C Turner .377

3B Mistone .320

CF Bousfield .271

RF Overbey .283

1B Orvis .244

DH Allen .236

2B Helsel .206

RHP Mike Mayers 4-5, 3.21